Young at Heart Chorus

Patricia Booth (1932)

Born in Springfield, MA, in 1932, Pat has a son and two daughters, five grandchildren and two great-grandsons. In 1979, she moved to New York City, attended New York School of Interior Design, started an interior design business and lived in Manhattan until 1992.  She worked in real estate, retiring in 2003, won the Ms Senior Massachusetts Pageant in 2004, and sings with the Cameo Girls. Pat lives in Springfield and enjoys power walking, tap dancing, ballroom dance and singing.
Chorus member since 2008.

Helen Boston (1930)

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Helen went to junior high and high school in West Philadelphia. She married and had nine children, six girls and three boys. She worked for many years for the school district of Coatesville, and the state of Pennsylvania, then retired and relocated to Florence, MA.  She loves performing with the Young@Heart Chorus, making quilts, arts and crafts, and decorating with balloons. Helen has even performed as a background performer in The Great Debaters directed by Denzel Washington.
Chorus member since 2002.

Patricia Cady (1935)

Pat was born in Hatfield, MA, and was horseback riding at age three at the Little Red Riding School her parents owned. She competed in gymnastics and also took tap and ballet. Pat was a Hatfield Police Officer and her husband a Massachusetts State Trooper. Together, they have three children and three grandchildren. An avid crossword puzzle solver, she also enjoys dancing, knitting, casinos, traveling and, of course, singing.
Chorus member since 2006.

Lu Cauley (1929)

Lu Cauley resides in Agawam, Massachusetts. She was raised in Springfield, Massachusetts in a Portuguese speaking home, which helped develop her love of languages and culture. Her passions include music, reading, travel, and sharing her life with her four wonderful daughters, five grandchildren, and five great grandchildren. After 23 years of raising a family, Lu returned to school and graduated from Westfield State College in 1975 with a degree in Elementary Education and ESL. She retired from Springfield Public Schools after 25 years of teaching. A professional story teller, Lu is a past president of the Chicopee Historical Society and a former member of the Springfield Symphony Chorus. In addition to Young@Heart, she is a soloist with the Agawam Melody Band and feels her music is a gift to be shared with others. Chorus member since 2012.

Claire Couture (1936)

Claire made her singing debut in the first grade performing "White Christmas." As a young girl she sang in plays, choirs, and chorales, and enjoyed performing for 15 years with the Holyoke Civic Chorale Society. She studied ornithology through the Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University to better understand and enjoy her hobby of birding. She returned to college at age 48 and graduated at 52. It was a challenge but well worth the effort. Her 3 children Jim, Mike and Andrea have given her and her husband Armand five cherished grandchildren.
Chorus member since 2010.

Joyce Dearman (1938)

Joyce has always enjoyed working with seniors. In her sixties, she entered Miss Senior Massachusetts and was awarded Miss Congeniality. She joined the Swinging Singing Seniors, and performed in churches, towns and nursing homes. During this time she met three members of Young@Heart – and it’s also when she learned about being young at heart!
Chorus member since 2011.

Dick Dragon (1935)

Born in Florence, Massachusetts in 1935, Dick and his wife live in Easthampton, MA, and have three children and seven grandchildren. After graduating from college in 1960, Dick spent 34 years in education as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent of schools for Hampshire Regional School District. He has always enjoyed singing and has been a choir member at the Sacred Heart Church in Northampton for about 65 years. Dick also belongs to the Pioneer Valley Chordsmen.
Chorus member since 2010.

Rollie Emond (1937)

Rollie was born in Holyoke, MA, the youngest of two children. She attended school in Chicopee and graduated from Holyoke High School. She married and had five children, and worked for 19 years at ShopRite Supermarkets, and 12 years at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Her husband passed in 2007. She has nine grandchildren and loves to sing.
Chorus member since 2011.

Patricia McTee Ervin (1925)

Pat grew up in Austin, Texas, and graduated from the University of Texas in 1945 with a degree in Drama. She lived for 50 years in Boston, MA, where she directed children's theatre and raised five children of her own. She is an avid worker for peace, and loves opera and coffee ice cream.
Chorus member since 2007.

Jean Florio (1922)

Jean is a resident of Northampton, MA, and a veteran of the Hampshire Choral Society and St. Mary’s Choir. A former Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts leader, waitress, and Smith College Residences and Dining Services staff member as well as a parent and homemaker, Jean lists her current interests as cooking, sewing, and hot air ballooning. She loves people and music. Good thing!
Chorus member since 1993.

Jeanne Hatch (1926)

A Missouri native, Jeanne began her singing and acting career at four years old. Jeanne sang with a swing band in the 1940s, acted off-Broadway in the 1950s, and in the 1990s she sang with a jazz trio. Jeanne taught Theater and Speech at Holyoke Community College from 1969 to 1999.
Chorus member since 1998.

Arthur Klein (1924)

During World War II, Arthur served in the Navy for 3 years on a destroyer escort in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Arthur’s ship was in Tokyo Bay next to the Battleship Missouri, where the peace treaty was signed. When Arthur came home, he went to beauty school and was a hairdresser for 65 years. His wife passed away in 2005. Two years later, he retired and moved to Massachusetts to live near his daughter. Arthur says, “When I came here I was lost. After working all my life, I had nothing to do until I found Young@Heart. Now I'm ready for my next adventure with my new group of friends.”
Chorus member since 2009.

Ron Kolinko (1937)

Ron started piano lessons at the age of eight, studied music at Wesleyan University, and music theory and piano at the Warsaw Music Conservatory. Over the years, Ron has worked for various churches as a cantor, organist, and choir director, and even joined a monastery for ten years where he sang all daily services in the choir. He has two piano recordings and many liturgical compositions to his credit. He lives in Deerfield where he enjoys the outdoors and playing with his rescued greyhound, “Mama Mia.”
Chorus member since 2011.

Norma Landry (1927)

Norma, a native of Webster, MA, and a resident of Easthampton, MA, tuned her pipes in glee clubs, choirs, and the Hampshire Choral Society. A retired secretary to the Easthampton Superintendent of Schools, Norma is an avid gardener and traveler.
Chorus member since 1993.

Patricia Larese (1930)

Pat, whose credentials include serving as secretary to the President of the Hartford Chamber of Commerce, the Connecticut State Armory Inspector, the Indiana Steel Corporation Purchasing Manager, and the Stanley Home Products Purchasing Agent, is also the Young@Heart Past President.
Chorus member since 1993.

M. Eileen Litke (1939)

A native of Fitchburg, MA, Eileen also lived in Ohio but has called Western Massachusetts home for the past fifty-five years. Eileen is a retired dental assistant with a husband, two children, three grandchildren, two stepchildren, two step-grandchildren and recently a great-grandchild. She began taking tap dance lessons in 2004 and also loves gardening, sewing, crafting, old movies and British mysteries. Eileen has sung with church choirs and choral groups, and was a member and Sponsorship Director of the former Swinging Singing Seniors of Chicopee.
Chorus member since 2012.

Brock Lynch (1924)

Young@Heart's only MD, Brock moved west from his native Boston to join the staff of the Northampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He is a Yale medical graduate, and as a young resident physician met and got to know many celebrities and/or their families: John Huston, Agnes DeMille, Richard Rogers, Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein, Cardinal Cushing, the parents of Alan Shephed Jr. (first American in space), Mr. And Mrs. Desmond Guiness (grandson of the the Guiness founder), Helen Keller and her then companion, Polly Thompson. Brock was inspired to join the group by seeing the late Young@Heart diva Anna Main in her 100th birthday parade.
Chorus member since 1996.

Steve Martin (1928)

For the past 75 years, Steve has sung in churches, choruses, community theaters, saloons, and Young@Heart. He may retire after reaching 100.
Chorus member since 2000.

Tony Matejczyk (1936)

Tony was born in Springfield, MA and worked as a reporter for the former Springfield Union before moving to Boston in the 1960s to take a job as a reporter with the Boston Herald.  In the 1970s he joined Verizon in Public Relations and finished his career there as a speechwriter. After retiring, he had a lot of fun working as an escort for European tours through a Boston travel club and as a driver/narrator navigating a trolley through the streets of Boston. He and his wife Mary Pat now live in Thorndike, MA, and have three children and two grandchildren.
Chorus member since 2011.

Joseph Mitchell (1932)

Born the second child of a family of six in Palmer, MA, Joe attended public schools and presently resides in Springfield. Joe is a retired Facilities Management Supervisor of MassMutual Financial Group, where he worked for 42 years. A lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and a local member of Carl L. Talbot Post 6189, Joe enjoys fishing and volunteer work at the Springfield Chapter of the American Red Cross. Joe is married and is a proud father and grandfather.
Chorus member since 2006.

Dora B. Parker Morrow (1922)

Dora was born in Hennings, Tennessee, the fourth child of a family of thirteen. Dora is widowed and is the mother of eight sons and seven daughters. She is the grandmother of twenty-three grandchildren, and the mother-in-law of Young@Heart’s drummer, Billy Arnold. A 56-year resident of South Bend, Indiana, Dora currently resides in Springfield, MA. She enjoys traveling, singing, flower gardening, and arts and crafts.
Chorus member since 2002.

Gloria Parker (1929)

Gloria is a mother of four and a retired school cafeteria cook and Smith College Residence and Dining Services staff member. Gloria is a veteran of the Cooley Dickinson Hospital Follies and Volunteers in Northampton Schools variety shows. She also worked at the Walter Salvo House meal site, which is where she first encountered a performance by the Young@Heart. She was Parade Marshall for the St. Patrick’s Association in 1997, president and treasurer for the Ladies Auxiliary V.F.W. Volunteers at the Northampton Senior center and a member of the Ward 3 Association.
Chorus member since 1995.

Jeanette Parks (1928)

As a child, Jeanette dreamed of becoming a long-distance telephone operator and travel extensively. She graduated from Frederick Douglas Senior High School in 1947 and took commercial business courses. As the years passed she got married and had four children. She worked as a switchboard operator and was offered a job with C&P Telephone as a long distance telephone operator in 1970. “God is good, my dream had come true!” After her husband died in 2001, Jeanette moved to Springfield with her daughter Terri and son-in-law Tom Morrow. Tom’s mother is in Young@Heart, and that is how Jeanette came to to the Chorus!
Chorus member since 2011.

Glenda Philips (1930)

I fell in love with music at the age of 5 when an upright piano was hoisted through the window of our fourth floor apartment in New York City! What magic there was in playing Sunday school hymns with two fingers! I've enjoyed music participation as a child, young adult, and after graduating from College; I went on to become a grade school music teacher. I've been taking piano lessons since I've retired and hope to give a recital on an upcoming birthday. My three daughters and two precious grandchildren are also music lovers! Since joining the Young@ Heart Chorus, I've been pleasantly stretched beyond my sacred and classical music experience! What a joyride this has been!
Chorus member since 2007.

Byron Ricketts Jr (1934)

Byron was born and raised in Boston, MA, and moved to Wendell, MA in the late 50's. He received his Associate and Bachelors degrees from Northeastern University while working at Raytheon Co. in Waltham, MA, where he served as a HAWK assembler, and later became a manufacturing foreman on the Apollo Guidance System and Lunar Excursion Module Programs. When those programs ended Byron transferred to the Human Relations department and became the Division Manager of Affirmative Action & Personnel Programs. He has sung with the Voices of Black Persuasion in their annual production of Black Nativity in honor of his daughter for 30 years, and is thoroughly enjoying singing with his "new family", the Y@H Chorus.

Chorus member since 2012. 

John Rinehart (1935)

John is a native of West Virginia. He moved to Springfield, MA, in 1953 to seek his fortune (which keeps evading him). An Army draftee in 1958 (four months after Elvis was inducted), he is a retired registered nurse for the State of Massachusetts and Behavioral Health Network. He is married and the father of three children (one deceased) and the grandfather of six. He enjoys singing with his church’s male chorus, cruises, and watching professional sports, especially tennis.
Chorus member since 2010.

Evelyn Robb (1924)

Born and raised in Newark, NJ, Evelyn moved to Long Island, NY, with her husband after World War Two. She taught every grade from 1 to 12, then served as a high school guidance counselor and family therapist. As a child, Evelyn performed with a Yiddish theater group, and as an adult with Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island. Evelyn moved to Northampton in 2008, where her daughter Joan resides with her husband. Evelyn has two daughters and three grandchildren. Evelyn was thrilled to discover Young@Heart, particularly since she became a widow the same year.
Chorus member since 2009.

Jack Schnepp (1930)

Jack, a resident of Wilbraham, MA, has sung with the Springfield Chordsmen Barbershop Chorus, the Swingin’ Singin’ Seniors of Chicopee, the Springfield Golden Age Club musicals, and other venues. Jack's business career began in Purchasing at Ford Div, Dearborn, MI, and later evolved into Materials Management. Jack's ambition, tongue-in-cheek, is to cut a CD at some point. A widower, Jack has six children, seventeen grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.
Chorus member since 1999.

David Scott (1938)

Originally from London, England, David moved to Connecticut in 1980 as Vice President of Sales for a surgical instrument company, having previously worked in the O.R. as a Surgical Technician at a major London Hospital. After leaving the business world, David joined a large soccer organization, managing their coaching clinics and camps throughout New York. During this time he became Head Coach of a high school girls soccer team in Connecticut for eleven years before fully retiring. He moved to Northampton, MA, in 2009. Married to his wife Kay for forty-nine years, they have three children and seven grandchildren, including identical twin boys.
Chorus member since 2012.

Janice St. Laurence (1928)

Jan studied both classical and modern music, including theory. She played piano for tap and ballroom dancing starting at age twelve, and accompanied choral groups and played trombone and Irish whistle in high school band. In 1964 she accepted a position at Smith College as accompanist for dance, and composed music for dance. After thirteen years accompanying dance, she moved from performing arts to fine arts. She and her husband, a former B-29 pilot, had four children and six grandchildren. They enjoyed flying small planes, doing aerobatics, cross-country flying, and traveling together. Music continues to fill her life and she also enjoys painting, knitting and scrap-booking.
Chorus member since 2000.

Shirley Stevens (1935)

Born and raised in Worcester, MA, Shirley has lived in Amherst since 1974. She spent most of her professional career in banking, and became treasurer of a bank in Northampton. Shirley has sung in church choirs, played piano and even tap danced early on. She is married to A.P. Stevens and the mother of twin sons, three stepchildren and eight step-grandchildren. Shirley bikes, bakes, knits and volunteers for several organizations.
Chorus member since 2008.

Gordon Tripp (1935)

Gordon was born and raised in Minnesota, leaving at age eighteen to go to school in Boston. He graduated in 1953 and then went to Durham, NC, for medical school.  He later spent two years as a Peace Corps Physician in Nigeria and Cameroon, West Africa. Gordon returned in 1964 to complete his residency training in Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis.  He practiced in Washington, DC, for forty years and then retired to Sunderland, MA, where he lives with his wife. He has two sons and two stepchildren and six grandchildren.  Besides singing, Gordon’s other interests include family, local political involvement, and hanging with his high school buddies in the North Woods of Minnesota.
Chorus member since 2011.

Andy Walsh (1928)

Andy was born in Quincy, MA, moved to Ireland at the start of the Depression in 1932, stayed with his parents there for 9 months and returned to the States because things were worse in Ireland.  He went to New York for his college degree and Master’s Degree in Philosophy. During the Korean War he served as an officer in the Army Artillery in Fort Stewart, Georgia.  He married Patricia in 1952.  They have 8 children. After 9 years of government service he joined his father in the family restaurant business, retiring in 1998. Andy enjoys singing and has also played the violin in the Quincy Symphony Orchestra for 27 years.

Chorus member since 2010.

Bob Cilman (1953)

Bob Cilman created the Young@Heart Chorus in 1982 with Judith B. Sharpe while working as a coordinator at a Northampton, Massachusetts elderly meal site. Son of a kosher butcher and the store’s bookkeeper, Cilman was born and raised in Rochester, New York where he dabbled in rock bands since age 11. His first band, the Torn Souls, had a corner on the local bar mitzvah party market. In summer camp, it was BC and the Knights and after college, the Self-Righteous Brothers. He spent a few years at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, eventually receiving a BA in American History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, but has learned much more from the members of the Chorus. Also the Executive Director of the Northampton Arts Council, he is married to furniture maker Polly Cassel and they have two daughters, Stella and Eva.
Chorus Director since 1982.

Jim Armenti (1952)

Jim was raised in Concord, MA, and graduated from the University Of Massachusetts with some knowledge of music and anthropology. He has played over 8,000 gigs, taught more than 1,000 students five different instruments, and written over 100 songs. During that time he helped raise two successful children and made friends. Bass. Band member since 1985.

William E. Arnold, Jr. (Mr. Clean) (1942)

A native of South Bend, Indiana, Bill was born into a family of six. He attended the public school system in Indiana where he was an all around sportsman. At age 15, he started playing the bongos and became known as "Bongo Bill." At 16, Bill started playing the drums and became known as "Mr. Clean" when he started playing with the recording artist "Junior Walker and the All-Stars." Mr. Clean has played with such jazz greats as Teddy Wilson and Charlie Ventura. He enjoys swimming and racket-ball, and is currently studying piano, but hopes another name change (“Billy Fingers”) is not coming. Bill's recent brushwork on Echoes of the Prophet: Songs Inspired by Kahlil Gibran has been called sublime by Jazz Improv Magazine.
Drums and Percussion. Band member since 2002.

Frederick Alexander Johnson (1970)

F. Alex "Freddy" Johnson has been learning, recording, and performing music since the age of 5. In 1991 he moved from his hometown of Fall River to Northampton, MA, and dove headfirst into its fertile music scene. In 2004, F. Alex joined the chorus with which he happily travels the world and writes home about it.
Guitar. Band member since 2004.

Tom Mahnken (1968)

Tom has been fascinated with music since his sixth birthday, when his brother gave him “Introducing the Beatles.” He was a founding member of the band Trailer Park, and live sin South Hadley, Massachusetts with his wife Ann-Marie and their very talented cats.
Saxophone, clarinet, bass. Band member since 2009.

Ken Maiuri (1971)

Ken grew up surrounded by music -- a polka-loving grandfather, mom’s record collection, the entrancing jukebox at the pizza parlor -- and little has changed. He has toured internationally with Mark Mulcahy, Pedro The Lion and The Mammals and was musical director for a rock opera. He's a weekly newspaper columnist, radio DJ, friend of cats and snacks and lives in Florence, MA.
Piano, bass. Band member since 2007.

Steve Sanderson (1970)

Steve was born in eastern Massachusetts to Harold and Judith Sanderson. The front man for veteran Pioneer Valley rockers The Drunk Stuntmen for sixteen years, he has been working with Young@Heart for the last five. He has never been happier about going to work!
Vocals, percussion, tour manager, stage manager, merch guy. Band member since 2004.

Dave Trenholm (1966)

Dave started playing music in the 6th grade. He’s played with various performers, including King Radio and Mark Mulcahy. Dave has also done arranging work for the Pernice Brothers, Thurston Moore, Lloyd Cole, and the cast of Spongebob Squarepants. He works at a music store in Northampton, MA.
Saxophone, flute, clarinet. Band member since 2009.

Sasha Goss (1975)

Sasha was born and raised in our Paradise City, Northampton, MA, and graduated from Eugene Lang College in New York City and The Hallmark Institute of Photography in Turners Falls, MA.  He has a broad range of experience from working as a professional photographer to working and volunteering as a Personal Care Assistant.  Sasha loves music, movies, photography, meeting new people, going new places, sneakers, guacamole, and lying on beautiful beaches.  While he plans on continuing his pursuit of photography, Sasha is also a very proud new member of The Young@Heart Chorus staff!
Chorus Liaison. Member since 2011.

Mark Guglielmo (1970)

Mark started playing clarinet and guitar as a child, and fell in love with hip-hop in the mid 80s. As rapper/producer Vesuveo, he's collaborated with Eminem, Black Eyed Peas, Evelyn Harris, Mystic, KRS-One, and many others. In 2007, he founded SupaTunes, a music licensing service for independent musicians, and has placed thousands of songs on MTV, NBC, ESPN, Bravo, and Fox. He moved to Northampton in 2007, after a decade in New York and Los Angeles, and is very happy to continue doing what he loves with Young@Heart.


Administrator Advancement since 2011.

John Laprade (1964)

John is a versatile stage technician, lighting designer and theatrical rigger who has designed lighting for acts ranging from Billy Joel to the World Wrestling Federation. He joins Young@Heart as Technical Director for their concert tours and is encouraged by the realization that it’s never too late to learn how to sing well.
Technical Director. Member since 1994.

Dan Richardson (1957)

The sound technician for Young@Heart, Dan is “fortunate enough to spend most of his time with people much older or much younger than he is.”
Sound. Member since 2000.